1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Throughout our opening scene the sequence tends to follow familiar conventions that will be seen in most of the thriller films that are being produce today. One convention that we have used which is often found at the start of any new scene is an establishing shot will engage and tell our audience where and when the action is taking place. I believe that we had created a narrative that creates a mysterious atmosphere which also keeps the audience in suspense after the establishing shot which is fitting with the thriller genre. I believe we created this unique atmosphere by showing all characters in the room or just outside at the start but then having one sent down seeming so innocent that the audience automatically knows that something is about to happen and we have incorporated typical conventions into the sequence that lets the audience knows that something is about to happen such as the use of diegetic sounds like the footsteps and creaking doors but also non-diegetic sounds such as the mysterious music. One film which taught us that the use of sound as a convention in a film is such an important thing is "Inception" which use sound extremely well to create suspense, drama and mystery which are vital components in a thriller film. One way in which i believe that we have challenged conventions is the use of a character. In so many thriller films, often the character when confronted with a noise, they often appear clueless to where it is coming from or often ignore it if they are in a typical dark spooky location just to avoid any chance of confrontation and we have challenged this by making our character go to that specific location where the noise came from because we know that people our age, in the back of their head know that nothing is there but just to be sure and get that thought out of your head go and check it out.
2. How does you media product represent particular social groups?
Media often portrays and separates boys that are our age in to two groups, those being "jocks" and "geeks" but we felt that this was best to get rid of in our film, particularly because its genre is thriller as "jocks" would stereotypically be to dumb to handle the situation where as "geeks" would find it more physically demanding. One other reason why we thought that is was best to scrap these to social groups is because in reality the majority of people fit into the group that's not "geeky" but as well not popular and this social group is so effective as we have seen it being used in the successful "Inbetweeners" which i believe was so successful because it really appealed to a larger audience and represented that age group as how it really is in society and not use stereotypes. The way in which we represent this social group is from the start of the sequence where the establishing shot shows the characters playing video games, drinking and just having a good time which is quite normal in society as defiantly not many boys this age (16-17) are out stabbing people and getting into trouble as so many forms of media show.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I believe that this film will have a high amount of viewers but will not be a box office smash hit. The main reason why i believe that the film would not be a huge box office film is because the whole film is representing a social group from England and from all over the world people have different views on how young adults should live there life and maybe find it strange how this age group is presented but also the age group and gender also restrict the amount of viewers because our target audience is primarily for 15-35 year olds. From taking that into account and also realising that the sequence shows the use of typical conventions which make for easier viewing as they don't challenge the audience, a production company such as film4 would most likely be used for this film as it only really appeals to the British audience but is well respected and has a lot of good films that it has been involved with.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our target audience for our film are 15-35 year olds, primarily male gender who have enjoyed thriller films such as "Disturbia" which shows how younger people address the situations that they are presented with but also has a softer side to it not meaning that love is involved in our film but that it is not 100% serious all the time. We made it very clear in the opening frame of the sequence that this is our target audience by showing the room full of boys doing what boys normally do which is not often shown in that many media productions.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
The certificate for our film would be a 15 which attracts our audience as if it was a 12 and people saw the trailer with a load of 16 year old boys in it they most likely would have been put off by it but by making it a 15 this tells the audience that the film will not really take into account the age of the characters and build the film around that but will just make a good thriller film regardless of the age of these characters.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
One thing i learnt was the amount of editing that can be done to a piece of work. The reason i learnt this was because at the beginning of us editing our work our whole sequence didn't really make sense due to a number of thing such as poor lighting of bad angles but by editing certain thing, such as changing the contrast of frames and adding certain effects to them our sequence soon started to fit into place. I also learnt that when filming you can never have too much light as many of our shots that looked fine on the video camera didn't come out clear on the Mac and even though we had main lights on we discovered that the camera cannot film if light is not directly on that object you are filming and unfortunately this was one of the films that cannot be achieved to its maximum potential from the technology we used. Finally i have learnt that as sound is such a important component to any film there are specific programs that are designed to help achieve what you are aiming for and these programs have taught me about the importance of sound. Overall technology defiantly made me more creative with our film as it enabled me to try our new things and find the best ways to make this product.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I have mainly learnt that even if one frame doesn't switch over to the next smoothly then that can ruin and take away the whole atmosphere of your sequence and in the preliminary task which was all about continuity and the importance of making the scene run smoothly and make sense to the audience it really makes you understand and learn how hard it is from filming yourself and how you need each frame in the right spot with the right angle and from this task it has helped me progress in the basics of making a media product such as filming.
Monday 7 November 2011
Tuesday 4 October 2011
Adam's Frame by Frame Analysis - The Dark Knight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OYBEquZ_j0
The opening sequence starts with an establishing shot, zooming in across a city skyline. One of the windows in the high rise office building smashes. This already tells the audience, something out of the ordinary is happening. The scene then introduces a masked man holding a gun. As we can't see his face, the audience want to know who he is and what importance he plays to the film. He fires a rope through the smashed window and onto the next rooftop, this suggests he may be important to whatever is happening as he seems to know clearly what he's doing.The opening sequence then progresses onto a low angle shot of a dark clothed figure. This low angle shows an intimidating side to this character. This character is also holding a mask and a rather large bag. This tells the audience that there may be something dodgy going on and everyone has a part to play. This second masked character then jumps into the back seat of a car that pulls up in front of him. This backs up the idea that a type of operation is going on. It could also back up the point about how the characters are organised and seem to know what they are doing. The opening sequence then changes back to the small office room. We can now see two men inside the room. They slide down a rope hanging over a busy street full of cars and people. This tells us that these men are prepared to do whatever they are doing in broad daylight, showing a sense of intelligence or maybe stupidity. We then see the two men who have slid from the broken window in a rush to jump down and progress. One of them falls off the rope too early. All the masked characters up to this bit have looked certain in what they are doing but this suggests that whatever these people are doing won't go smoothly. The opening sequence then switches back to the car. Three men are sat in the car, all masked. This is the first bit of dialogue in the film. The two men sitting at the front discuss shares and money. They seem to be in a rush to wherever their destination is. The conversation could evident the fact that there is an operation going on and the audience begin to try and understand fully what is going on. The masked character in the back seat, cocks a gun. This could suggest an armed robbery is about to take place. Yet again, the sequence flashes back to the two men on the roof. One of them breaks into a box full of confusing looking wires, this can show that they are ruthless and are prepared to do whatever it takes to make some money. After a short conversation between the two men on the roof. The sequence then continues back to the car. The three masked men jump out of the car holding guns and big bags (possibly to carry the money.) They proceed to lightly run into a bank and one of them shoots the ceiling. This makes them look intimidating, but yet again it could show stupidity as he is already alerting attention to them. The scene then progresses into the masked men doing their individual jobs. For example, we are reintroduced to the two men on the roof. One of them shoots the other one as he's done his job. This shows the characters are ruthless and are prepared to do whatever it takes to obtain more money.The remaining characters in the bank now somehow have to get the money. They begin to work together to control the bank and make sure no one can escape. This is the only time that they work together. As the audience already know, they are prepared to do whatever it takes, even kill each other. So we know this isn't going to last long. We then see a scene of what looks like the bank manager. He looks very professional and has a clear aim in his eyes. He loads a shotgun and shoots one of the men. This shows he too is ruthless and wants to get his bank back. He proceeds to shoot carelessly at the armed robbers and wants to scare them off, however the audience know he is outnumbered and that he doesn't stand a chance. The men then proceed to take each other out. The scene of the vault then occurs. It is a progressing shot, zooming into to get a close-up of the money. One of the characters walks in and carelessly spills all the money into one of his large bags. Then we see a shot of one of the characters dragging the last bag of money and putting it on top of the pile. This is the shot in which the audience realise how much money they have stolen and they may act quite surprised as they probably assumed it wasn't going to go smoothly.
The opening sequence starts with an establishing shot, zooming in across a city skyline. One of the windows in the high rise office building smashes. This already tells the audience, something out of the ordinary is happening. The scene then introduces a masked man holding a gun. As we can't see his face, the audience want to know who he is and what importance he plays to the film. He fires a rope through the smashed window and onto the next rooftop, this suggests he may be important to whatever is happening as he seems to know clearly what he's doing.The opening sequence then progresses onto a low angle shot of a dark clothed figure. This low angle shows an intimidating side to this character. This character is also holding a mask and a rather large bag. This tells the audience that there may be something dodgy going on and everyone has a part to play. This second masked character then jumps into the back seat of a car that pulls up in front of him. This backs up the idea that a type of operation is going on. It could also back up the point about how the characters are organised and seem to know what they are doing. The opening sequence then changes back to the small office room. We can now see two men inside the room. They slide down a rope hanging over a busy street full of cars and people. This tells us that these men are prepared to do whatever they are doing in broad daylight, showing a sense of intelligence or maybe stupidity. We then see the two men who have slid from the broken window in a rush to jump down and progress. One of them falls off the rope too early. All the masked characters up to this bit have looked certain in what they are doing but this suggests that whatever these people are doing won't go smoothly. The opening sequence then switches back to the car. Three men are sat in the car, all masked. This is the first bit of dialogue in the film. The two men sitting at the front discuss shares and money. They seem to be in a rush to wherever their destination is. The conversation could evident the fact that there is an operation going on and the audience begin to try and understand fully what is going on. The masked character in the back seat, cocks a gun. This could suggest an armed robbery is about to take place. Yet again, the sequence flashes back to the two men on the roof. One of them breaks into a box full of confusing looking wires, this can show that they are ruthless and are prepared to do whatever it takes to make some money. After a short conversation between the two men on the roof. The sequence then continues back to the car. The three masked men jump out of the car holding guns and big bags (possibly to carry the money.) They proceed to lightly run into a bank and one of them shoots the ceiling. This makes them look intimidating, but yet again it could show stupidity as he is already alerting attention to them. The scene then progresses into the masked men doing their individual jobs. For example, we are reintroduced to the two men on the roof. One of them shoots the other one as he's done his job. This shows the characters are ruthless and are prepared to do whatever it takes to obtain more money.The remaining characters in the bank now somehow have to get the money. They begin to work together to control the bank and make sure no one can escape. This is the only time that they work together. As the audience already know, they are prepared to do whatever it takes, even kill each other. So we know this isn't going to last long. We then see a scene of what looks like the bank manager. He looks very professional and has a clear aim in his eyes. He loads a shotgun and shoots one of the men. This shows he too is ruthless and wants to get his bank back. He proceeds to shoot carelessly at the armed robbers and wants to scare them off, however the audience know he is outnumbered and that he doesn't stand a chance. The men then proceed to take each other out. The scene of the vault then occurs. It is a progressing shot, zooming into to get a close-up of the money. One of the characters walks in and carelessly spills all the money into one of his large bags. Then we see a shot of one of the characters dragging the last bag of money and putting it on top of the pile. This is the shot in which the audience realise how much money they have stolen and they may act quite surprised as they probably assumed it wasn't going to go smoothly.
Monday 3 October 2011
Frame by frame analysis- Inception
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VXkUzf1et4
The opening scene of the 2010 Oscar winning film, Inception starts out with an establishing shot showing to us, the audience where the opening scene of the film is taking place and in this frame it is of waves crashing against rocks, and the rocks are an important thing to include in the shot as it tells us that the scene is not being taken out in the middle of the ocean but instead by the shore. The next frame is still of waves crashing together but does not dwell on this as it has already established to us where the scene is set and therefore quickly moves into the next frame which is the introduction of the first character. The shot is of the character face down in the sand and the function of this is to show how he is in a vulnerable state at this time. The sequence then moves onto the shot of a young child playing on beach but with his back turned to the camera, as the scene continues it uses shot reverse shots of the first initial character looking at this child and then back to the child who is joined by a slightly older girl. The purpose of this may be to tell the audience to remember these children as they may have some importance to the plot of the film. As the sequence continues there is a high angle shot of a man poking the first character who is still face down on the floor with a gun, the use of props shown such as gun and the use of a high angle shot shows how vulnerable this character is at the moment. Its then expands on this vulnerability when the next frame is a low angle shot of the officer who has the gun and the function of the low angle shot is of course to show his superiority. The next frame shows the officer discovering a gun on the first character which may have been done to make the audience think that this man who has been washed up on the shore is a dangerous and wanted man. The next frame is of the officer shouting which then progresses to a long shot of a man hearing the orders and rushing inside a building. As the sequence progresses there is an establishing shot of where the next part of the scene will be held and dialogue which comes across the screen to tells us that the scene may be in a foreign location. The next frame slowly zooms in to the back of the man who is currently speaking, not relieving the face of this man meaning that this adds a mysterious element to the scene which the audience can draw their own conclusions too and also the use of dialogue and amount of screen time this mysterious man is getting may suggest that he is one of the main characters in the film. It then progresses to the character placing down an unusual object but then quickly cuts back to him turning his head slowly, but before we get to see his face the next frame begins which is the first character we saw being dragged in by two officers. The function of this to clearly build suspense for audience who anxiously wait to see this mysterious mans face. The next frame is a tilt shot and as the camera slowly progresses up to the character we catch a glimpse of him eating but then suddenly the shot switches to a shot looking over the characters shoulder at this mysterious man and shallow focus is being used so we can finally see this mans face and not focus on anything else. The next frame then returns to the character who has now stopped eating and as we previously saw how poorly and vulnerable he looked at the beginning, this tells us that something important may about to be said and the next frame is of them man picking up the mysterious object once again meaning that it must have a significant amount of importance to the story as a prop so small is never usually included in the opening scene as much as it has in this one. The scene then goes into a medium shot of the man spinning the object looking intrigued by it and then the next frame is a close up of just the object spinning illustrating the importance of this small object which as well as doing so, i believe challenges the audience making them think why this minute object is getting so much screen time and being seen as so important so early on in the film. Overall i believe the main function of this opening scene is to tell the audience that this is a film that will make you think hard whilst watching it an generally challenge you. It does this by not really conclusively giving a location for the opening scene or by explaining what the characters are all about and most importantly including this mysterious object which seems to be so heavily involved in the opening scene.
The opening scene of the 2010 Oscar winning film, Inception starts out with an establishing shot showing to us, the audience where the opening scene of the film is taking place and in this frame it is of waves crashing against rocks, and the rocks are an important thing to include in the shot as it tells us that the scene is not being taken out in the middle of the ocean but instead by the shore. The next frame is still of waves crashing together but does not dwell on this as it has already established to us where the scene is set and therefore quickly moves into the next frame which is the introduction of the first character. The shot is of the character face down in the sand and the function of this is to show how he is in a vulnerable state at this time. The sequence then moves onto the shot of a young child playing on beach but with his back turned to the camera, as the scene continues it uses shot reverse shots of the first initial character looking at this child and then back to the child who is joined by a slightly older girl. The purpose of this may be to tell the audience to remember these children as they may have some importance to the plot of the film. As the sequence continues there is a high angle shot of a man poking the first character who is still face down on the floor with a gun, the use of props shown such as gun and the use of a high angle shot shows how vulnerable this character is at the moment. Its then expands on this vulnerability when the next frame is a low angle shot of the officer who has the gun and the function of the low angle shot is of course to show his superiority. The next frame shows the officer discovering a gun on the first character which may have been done to make the audience think that this man who has been washed up on the shore is a dangerous and wanted man. The next frame is of the officer shouting which then progresses to a long shot of a man hearing the orders and rushing inside a building. As the sequence progresses there is an establishing shot of where the next part of the scene will be held and dialogue which comes across the screen to tells us that the scene may be in a foreign location. The next frame slowly zooms in to the back of the man who is currently speaking, not relieving the face of this man meaning that this adds a mysterious element to the scene which the audience can draw their own conclusions too and also the use of dialogue and amount of screen time this mysterious man is getting may suggest that he is one of the main characters in the film. It then progresses to the character placing down an unusual object but then quickly cuts back to him turning his head slowly, but before we get to see his face the next frame begins which is the first character we saw being dragged in by two officers. The function of this to clearly build suspense for audience who anxiously wait to see this mysterious mans face. The next frame is a tilt shot and as the camera slowly progresses up to the character we catch a glimpse of him eating but then suddenly the shot switches to a shot looking over the characters shoulder at this mysterious man and shallow focus is being used so we can finally see this mans face and not focus on anything else. The next frame then returns to the character who has now stopped eating and as we previously saw how poorly and vulnerable he looked at the beginning, this tells us that something important may about to be said and the next frame is of them man picking up the mysterious object once again meaning that it must have a significant amount of importance to the story as a prop so small is never usually included in the opening scene as much as it has in this one. The scene then goes into a medium shot of the man spinning the object looking intrigued by it and then the next frame is a close up of just the object spinning illustrating the importance of this small object which as well as doing so, i believe challenges the audience making them think why this minute object is getting so much screen time and being seen as so important so early on in the film. Overall i believe the main function of this opening scene is to tell the audience that this is a film that will make you think hard whilst watching it an generally challenge you. It does this by not really conclusively giving a location for the opening scene or by explaining what the characters are all about and most importantly including this mysterious object which seems to be so heavily involved in the opening scene.
Tuesday 27 September 2011
"The Dark Knight" Thriller Conventions
The Dark Knight Opening Sequence.
The Dark Knight is a 2008 American superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. The opening sequence starts off with an establishing shot. It zooms in across rooftops to focus on a gunshot and a window smashing from a tall office building, this leaves the audience in suspense and makes them want to view on. The sequence then progresses to a low-angle shot of a superior looking male carrying a holdall and holding a mask. He jumps into the back seat of a expensive looking 4 wheel drive. The sequence cross cuts between two similar looking masked man on a rooftop talking about the Joker, making us want to know who the Joker is. The mise-en-scene includes various props you would associate with a action/thriller genre. This includes guns, masks and suits. We are introduced to a bank, and the masked characters walking in with various weaponry. We can already tell they are planning to steal money for this setting, so the audience are intrigued to see if they can carry it out. Even though the main action is on the masked bank robbers, the camera keeps on cutting to a suited man, who the audience assume is the bank manager as the setting tells them. He then shoots one of the robbers and charges out of his office with his objective clear in the audiences minds. This gives the audience a reasonable thought that equilibrium will be restored. However he is taken out and shot by one of the masked bank robbers. With the bank manager taken out, this gives the audience the impression that the bank robbery will be completed smoothly. But, there is no justice within the robbers mindsets. They continue to take each other out, due to this mysterious character, the Joker.
The Dark Knight is a 2008 American superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. The opening sequence starts off with an establishing shot. It zooms in across rooftops to focus on a gunshot and a window smashing from a tall office building, this leaves the audience in suspense and makes them want to view on. The sequence then progresses to a low-angle shot of a superior looking male carrying a holdall and holding a mask. He jumps into the back seat of a expensive looking 4 wheel drive. The sequence cross cuts between two similar looking masked man on a rooftop talking about the Joker, making us want to know who the Joker is. The mise-en-scene includes various props you would associate with a action/thriller genre. This includes guns, masks and suits. We are introduced to a bank, and the masked characters walking in with various weaponry. We can already tell they are planning to steal money for this setting, so the audience are intrigued to see if they can carry it out. Even though the main action is on the masked bank robbers, the camera keeps on cutting to a suited man, who the audience assume is the bank manager as the setting tells them. He then shoots one of the robbers and charges out of his office with his objective clear in the audiences minds. This gives the audience a reasonable thought that equilibrium will be restored. However he is taken out and shot by one of the masked bank robbers. With the bank manager taken out, this gives the audience the impression that the bank robbery will be completed smoothly. But, there is no justice within the robbers mindsets. They continue to take each other out, due to this mysterious character, the Joker.
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